Miller gets Fricked
It was welcome news to hear that Jon Miller is the 2010 Ford Frick Award winner. He'll be presented the award at this year's Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in July.
Many fans mistakenly believe that the Frick Award is equivalent to induction to the Hall of Fame itself. They'll cite it as membership in the "broadcaster's wing" at the Hall of Fame.
I guess if there really was a "broadcaster's wing," I'd likely know about it. I've made the trek to Cooperstown more than 25 times over the years and have done some consulting work for the Hall a few times.
What they do have is a display that pays tribute to the great broadcsters and baseball writers of all-time, located close to the library on the Hall of Fame grounds. There's a full-size diorama of the interior of an old time pressbox, complete with vintage microphones and typewriters. (Ask your grandparents about typewriters.)
The Frick Award is a tremendous honor - certainly the highest achievement for anyone lucky enough to have a career broadcasting baseball. It really doesn't matter that it's not a true induction; the fans believe it is, and that's okay.
Getting back to the honoree for a moment: I've known Jon since he first arrived in Baltimore more than a quarter-century ago. He had some big shoes to fill, coming in after legendary Orioles - and Senators - announcer Chuck Thompson, and made an immediate impact on tne market.
I'll always remember running into Jon at the Cockeysville, MD post office shortly after he arrived in town. He'd just received the 1930 cards for Strat-O-Matic Baseball, the best tabletop baseball game out there. (My apologies if you're an APBA loyalist. I grew up with S-O-M, so for me there's no other.)
We stood inside there for about 30 minutes talking about the 1930 season in the National League. (If that doesn't float your boat, check it out for yourself. The Phillies batted .315 as a team - and finished 50 games under .500 in last place!) Anyway, from that point on, we were fast friends.
DC-area fans certainly know Jon from his days doing the Orioles' games, and prior to that as the radio voice of the Washington Diplomats soccer team, when he, on occasion, would wear the world's worst hairpiece,
There are a lot of deserving candidates for the Frick Award, and some pioneers of the genre who have been passed over for the honor for a long time. But occasions like this are for the living, and Jon's speech will be one for the ages, I'm quite sure.
This year's induction ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, July 25, in Cooperstown.
 |
Categories (click for archive)Phil Wood |
Hello Phil, I enjoy watching and listening to you on Wall to Wall Baseball on Saturdays. You and Tom and Dave are great and know your baseball. You are the baseball historian and you know baseball inside and out. I agree with you that Strat O- Matic is the best baseball game. I grew up with it in the 60s as i played it every day. I still have my baseball game and the cards that went with it. Jon Miller will always be remembered by me as being the Baltimore Orioles voice after Chuck Thompson. I listen to him on ESPN and on the MLB Extra Innings package when he does games for the CSN Bay Area San Francisco Giants. He and Joe Angel amde a great team and you knew what was going on in the game. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to contact you. Take care, Your Faithful Fan, Roland
I was always a Replay Games guy. It's a much more obscure game for sure, but I liked how you added the pitcher and batter together for a result.
My brother used to pinch hit Walter Johnson all the time in the 1927 version. Ticked me to no end. ============== He didn't know how well Walter swung the bat?
Phil--You're right about the "broadcaster's wing" misreporting. I wrote in to the DCRTV blog with a correction after the blog post stated that the award 'admits Miller to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum'. (Of course, Dave the blogger could have meant that Jon gets in the building free from now on, which I'm sure is true..)
You're also right about other deserving candidates being passed over. In particular, I'd hope they some year would think about a man who never spoke into a microphone or stood before a camera (at least, not on-air)...the pioneer director of baseball on television, Harry Coyle. ============== I chatted with Harry Coyle at length (and got his autograph) almost 30 years ago at the Smithsonian 1981 Fourth of July Celebration, of which I was a consultant - and you're absolutely right, he deserves some degree of recognition. I'll mention that to the guys I know on the Frick Award committee. There have been a couple of posthumous award winners, including Arch McDonald, the voice of Washington baseball for many years dating back to the 1930's.
An addendum to my previous comment--Coyle passed away in 1996, and so far I don't think either the Frick or Spink awards have been presented posthumously--but if there ever was a case for it, this is one.
Phil, which of these do you think is more likely to occur: Jon Miller wears that godwaful hairpiece for his induction, or he asks Peter Angelos to introduce him? ===== I'll go with the toupee on that one...
Thanks for your blog honoring Jon Miller. One O's beat writer noted sometime ago that he thought that Jon Miller has hopes of returning to O's broadcasts someday. Do you have any sense of that?========== None whatsoever. Jon's in his hometown, among family and friends. He turns 59 this year. The idea of him returning to Baltimore at this stage of his life seems too far-fetched.